Free Republic

SAN DIEGO -- A landmark accord that ended decades of acrimony over how Southern California gets its water is in jeopardy. A California appeals court is considering whether to overturn a 2003 pact that created the nation's largest farm-to-city water transfer and set new rules for dividing the state's share of the Colorado River. If a lower court ruling stands, consequences could ripple to six other Western states and Mexico, which also rely on the 1,450-mile river that flows from the Rocky Mountains to the Sea of Cortez. ... In January 2010, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Roland Candee gutted the...

Just for grins, let's assume that Jerry Brown beats the long political odds and persuades the Legislature and voters to enact his tough-love plan to close the state budget gap. What's next for the septuagenarian retread? Walking on water? Yes, in a manner of speaking. If Brown can put the budget crisis behind him, at least for a few years, California's other long- festering political sore will almost certainly move to the top of his agenda. Predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger supposedly settled California's water wars before leaving office. In fact, he didn't. He merely put in place a complex mechanism to...

By Tom McClintock House Chamber, Washington, D.C. January 19, 2011 M. Speaker: The Department of Interior issued an announcement yesterday that perfectly illustrates the irrationality of our current approach to water issues. California’s precipitation this season has gone off the charts. Statewide snow water content is 198 percent of normal; in the all-important Northern Sierra snowpack is 174 percent of normal. This is not only a wet year – it is one of the wettest years on record. Yet yesterday, we have this announcement from the Department of the Interior: that despite a nearly unprecedented abundance of water, the Bureau...

New water panel chairman wants more California projects built Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers last updated: January 14, 2011 07:49:40 PM WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, could start making waves in California water. As new chairman of the House water and power subcommittee, McClintock can promote his pet projects while he squeezes environmentalists. Politically, this means renewed talk of an Auburn dam, stricter scrutiny of San Joaquin River restoration and more support for hydropower. "We need to change the central objective of our federal water and power policy, to one of abundance," McClintock said in an interview. "That...

The same federal judge who helped set in motion protests in California's farm country when he ruled three years ago that Delta pumping limits were too lax to prevent fish from going extinct determined Tuesday the new regulations go too far the other way. In a sharply worded, 255-page decision, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, of Fresno, concluded: "The public cannot afford sloppy science and uni-directional prescriptions that ignore California's water needs." He ordered regulators to rewrite significant portions of a permit for massive Delta pumps that deliver water to the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed Natural Resources Defense Council western director Felicia Marcus to the Delta Stewardship Council. The seven-member panel, created as part of the 2009 water policy package, is tasked with crafting and implementing a plan for the future management of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Marcus, a former EPA administrator and Los Angeles Board of Public Works commissioner, replaces another Schwarzenegger pick, Richard Roos-Collins. Roos-Collins, an attorney for the Natural Heritage Institute, resigned earlier this month after his nomination was opposed by environmental groups.

In a stunning reversal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday he would attempt to pull an $11.1 billion water bond off the November ballot and instead ask voters to approve it two years from now. The governor said the delay was needed to focus on the budget, but the economic climate and persistent criticism of the bond's cost was making the measure a tough sell.

Washington, D.C. – U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today praised the U.S. Department of the Interior’s announcement that the Bureau of Reclamation’s 2010 Central Valley Project Water Supply allocations continue to increase throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The allocations were the result of increased water supplies due to favorable weather conditions, and better water management. Senator Boxer said, “I am pleased that water allocations to the San Joaquin Valley have continued to increase throughout this spring. The Congress and the Administration must continue to work together on efforts to provide relief to farmers and communities facing water shortages.” The...

Sacramento - -- The $11 billion water bond that California voters will be asked to approve next year contains nearly $2 billion in earmarks that lawmakers candidly acknowledge were included in the proposal to win the votes that were needed to pass the plan out of the Legislature. More News * Dems, GOP split on NY trials of alleged terrorists 11.15.09 * Pelosi exhibits leadership, protects colleagues 11.15.09 * Tower of films to recall Alcatraz takeover 11.15.09 * Three Questions For: Mary McCue / Guardian of public space 11.15.09 Hundreds of millions of dollars of those earmarks - which some...

People who say that nothing's harder to get rid of than a bad penny must never have met Keith Brackpool. The British-born promoter, who has spent the last dozen years pushing a scheme to pump water to Southern California from beneath 35,000 acres his Cadiz Inc. owns in the Mojave Desert, just won't go away. ... In the past his posse has included ex-Gov. Gray Davis and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Now he has added Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who last week publicly endorsed the scheme as "a path-breaking, new, sustainable groundwater conservation and storage project." The endorsement was embedded...

Republicans Call for Action to Address Man-Made Drought Projections: Up to 35,000 Jobs Lost and 300,000 Acres of Farm Land Unused Ranking Member Doc Hastings, along with Representatives Devin Nunes, Tom McClintock, Kevin McCarthy, Ken Calvert and George Radanovich, hold a press conference to highlight the man-made California drought and policies that provide water for fish (like the three-inch smelt shown above), but not people. WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House Natural Resources Committee held a full committee hearing today on the "The California Drought: Actions by Federal and State agencies to address impacts on lands, fisheries and water users." Witnesses,...

WASHINGTON -- As the politics of water grow more intense on Capitol Hill, Republican Rep. Tom McClintock is skeptical that there's a shortage in California, even though the governor has declared a drought emergency. "Don't forget we have the most water-rich region in the state," said McClintock, a newcomer on the House Natural Resources Committee, who represents California's 4th Congressional District. "And yet our communities are in ... drought alerts, not because of a shortage of water, but because of water that the environmental regulations allow us to use." It is becoming a common refrain for some Republicans in Washington:...

With the budget passed, the water wars are back. Focus is returning to California's seemingly perennial struggle to find a solution to its water woes. On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a formal drought proclamation, a move to raise awareness of the state's water shortage. Last Thursday, Sen. Dave Cogdill, a Modesto Republican, introduced a water bond bill (SB 371) after similar efforts stalled last year. Sen. Dean Florez, the No. 2 Democrat in the house, introduced a counter measure (SB 301). Even the federal government is getting involved. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack...

The warnings have been ominous this winter: California is headed into the worst drought in modern history. The water supply is drying up. Or, as one water association declared last week, "Things just keep getting worse and worse." Is it really that bad? If you look at the numbers, the answer is no. Not only have a series of February storms pushed up mountain snowpack levels, but by historical standards the current three-year drought is far from the worst. Monday, the state Department of Water Resources announced that the mountain snowpack that feeds the state's reservoirs has reached 80% of...

A California board has revoked federal water claims that were critical to building a long-stalled dam northeast of Sacramento, effectively ending the project. Tuesday's unanimous vote by the State Water Resources Control Board comes more than four decades after Congress authorized the Auburn Dam to control flooding along the American River. Board members said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had not done its job. --snip-- The Bureau of Reclamation could apply for new permits, but Congress first would have to reauthorize the project.

The wildfires that have burned more than 1 million acres are the most visible symptom of another long, hot, dry summer in California. Less visible, though no less devastating, are the effects that the prolonged drought has on the state's water supply and environment. Although no one disagrees on the urgent need to fight the fires, there has long been sharp disagreement about how to address California's chronic water shortage. The time has come to break the stalemate. So, in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation, earlier this month we offered a compromise water bond package for the Legislature's consideration. We...

SACRAMENTO – With scattered rationing punishing cities and farms statewide, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein Thursday jointly unveiled a $9.3 billion water bond proposal, convinced that fears over prolonged shortages and environmental collapse in the vital Sacramento delta will be enough to overcome resistance to building dams and a north-to-south delivery canal. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Feinstein, a Democrat, plan to aggressively push lawmakers to approve taking the bond measure to voters in November. The plan still faces tough odds. The ballot is already crowded with controversial initiatives addressing same-sex marriage, abortions for minors and caged farm...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will formally declare today that the state has plunged into a drought, putting Californians on notice that rationing could be next if conservation efforts are not stepped up. “The governor is ringing the bell. We're heading over a cliff,” Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said in an exclusive interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune. Schwarzenegger will issue an accompanying executive order to launch an aggressive campaign to transfer water to parched regions, pursue federal aid, quickly funnel more state money to conservation projects and to lay the foundation for a...

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power are expected to announce on May 15 a revised water use and management plan for this city that includes using recycled wastewater to recharge drinking water aquifers, according to a May 15 Los Angeles Times article. The new plan allocates about $1 billion for the proposed reclamation system, also known as “toilet-to-tap” or “sewer-to-spigot.” The city would recycle about 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to drinking standards by 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15. Villaraigosa, who less than a decade ago opposed such...

Environmentalists sued Tuesday to cut off water deliveries across California after state and federal water managers refused to follow a recommendation from scientific experts to slow down massive Delta pumps. The legal showdown comes after hopes were dashed that a crisis pitting Californians' need for water against a dying ecosystem would abate during the weekend. Instead, hundreds of imperiled fish have been killed since an unprecedented 10-day pumping shutdown ended June 9 and water officials began gradually restoring water deliveries. Water officials, who have been increasing pumping rates for more than a week, plan to continue ramping up water deliveries...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to draw on his popular campaign against global warming to promote something not so popular among environmentalists – building new dams in California. His strategy will attempt to capitalize on fears that climatic disruptions linked to global warming could take a toll on fish and wildlife, as well as increase flood risks and reduce overall water supplies for a growing state. To guard against those threats, Schwarzenegger will aggressively pursue at least one, and possibly two new reservoirs as part of his 2007 agenda. The combined price tag could be as much as $3.7...

Ready or not, the $37.2 billion infrastructure bond package on the November ballot just got a little bigger. About $5 billion bigger, to be exact. A coalition of California environmental groups has qualified an initiative that calls for $5.4 billion in bonds to pay for water quality improvements, protection of rivers, lakes and streams, shoreline protection and parkland purchases. Backers of the measure made it clear that they'll be hugging the governor's bipartisan bond package tight in an effort to get the conservation bonds passed. "This is the fifth prong of the infrastructure bonds," said Fiona Hutton, a spokeswoman for...

A bill requiring Central Valley property owners who live in flood-prone areas to have flood insurance has died without getting a vote in a state Assembly committee. The measure by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, failed Monday when none of the 10 members of the Banking and Finance Committee asked for a vote. The bill would have required valley property owners to buy coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program unless the state or a local agency certified that levees provided at least 200-year flood protection. An area with such protection has a one in 200 chance of catastrophic flooding in...

WASHINGTON - Key Republican lawmakers said Thursday that building a dam on the American River at Auburn is the only way to protect Sacramento against catastrophic flooding that might occur once every 500 years. But the head of the California Department of Water Resources cautioned against losing focus on flood-control projects now underway that are meant to give 200-year protection to the region. Sacramento is now protected only at the 100-year level--the lowest of any large urban area in the nation. "Our focus right now in the state is that we need to be sure we get these improvements and...

Everyone knows that it's risky to build large tracts of homes beside flood-prone rivers but developers and local governments, especially in the fast-growing Sacramento area, are continuing to do it with little regard for the potential consequences--because financially and legally, they are protected from the consequences. As long as the subdivisions comply with very outdated federal floodplain maps, or the promoters have obtained some sort of exemption from the Army Corps of Engineers, there are no restrictions or flood insurance requirements. And under a recent state appellate court decision, if a levee fails and nearby homes are flooded, the State...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders struggled Tuesday to agree on a record-setting public works bond package that could reach the June ballot, with what one lawmaker called "the diabolical politics of water" standing in the way. But negotiators were working on borrowed time. Last Friday was the secretary of state's official deadline for the Legislature to add proposals to the June 6 ballot, but lawmakers and administration officials said they could still make the ballot if they acted by Tuesday. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, sent a letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Bruce McPherson asking him to...

The state of California could move to seize private land to repair eroding levees under the authority of a recent emergency declaration. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared the levee emergency on Feb. 24, vowing to spend $100 million to repair 24 serious erosion sites on Sacramento Valley levees by Nov. 1, the start of the next flood season. But the state may go beyond merely rebuilding some eroded areas, said Rod Mayer, acting chief at the State Department of Water Resources. In some cases, the state may opt to widen the riverbed by building setback levees, in which the existing levee...

SACRAMENTO - From the North Coast to Southern California, local governments, environmentalists, business groups - even Indian tribes - are turning up the lobbying heat on state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as they try to grab a share of what could be the largest bond measure in the state's history. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders are negotiating a package of public works bonds that could help pay for projects ranging from highway expansions to rebuilt levees to new schools. Schwarzenegger proposed a record $222.6 billion infrastructure spending plan in January that would be partly funded by selling state bonds and...

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will visit California to tour Sacramento's levees and assess the need for federal help, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday after meeting with the secretary. Schwarzenegger said Chertoff made the commitment during a meeting in which the governor pressed him to support a federal disaster declaration for the fragile levee system. Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state of emergency for the river and delta levees to try to get quick funding to repair them. "He said that he will help, that he will look into it," Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Associated Press. "He...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Sacramento could suffer catastrophic flooding unless the river levees in the region are repaired quickly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other officials warned Wednesday after a helicopter tour. "We are literally today one storm or one big earthquake away from a major disaster," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference atop a levee separating the Sacramento River from a neighborhood just yards away. "Now we have seen what happened with Katrina - I think that woke everyone up." Sacramento has less than 100-year flood protection, the lowest of any large urban area in the nation, according...

SACRAMENTO - It lives. That $3-per-month water fee dropped from legislative debate Thursday was resurrected Friday - in no small part because Senate Leader Don Perata wants to publicly air the idea, which forms a key component of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $35 billion waterworks plan. The fee, as envisioned, would be charged to every household to help pay for improvements to the state's water system, including better-maintained Delta levees. Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee Chairwoman Sheila Kuehl said she initially dropped the fee from discussion to save some time - no one except the administration supported the fee, which...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - In 25 years, California is expected to use about the same amount of water it uses today, even though the state is projected to add another 12 million people, according to a new state. The California Water Plan released Tuesday found that farmers, who currently use about 80 percent of the state's "developed water," will use less as new development reduces the amount of irrigated farmland by about 10 percent. Irrigation systems are also expected to become more efficient. "Urban users are going to need more water, and agriculture is going to need less," said...